Via Rail terror suspect wants evidence to be made public

BRAMPTON, ONT. — One of two terror suspects charged in an alleged plot to attack a Via Rail passenger train wants the evidence police have against him to be made public.

The information that police presented to a judge to get search warrants for Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser are under a sealing order, but media lawyers fought Tuesday for access to them.

Esseghaier said he was all right with any of the material being published except for evidence about “the private life inside the home.”

“You can publish the materials,” he said. “I don’t have a problem.”

Esseghaier represented himself on the motion, as he maintained that he wants a lawyer who will use the Qur’an rather than the Criminal Code for his judgment. He has not been successful in finding one, though he has qualified for legal aid.

He refused to even read relevant case law or the materials filed by Jaser’s lawyer because they are based on “laws made by humans.” “The counsel of Mr. Jaser, they are working under the Criminal Code of Canada,” Esseghaier said, standing in the prisoner’s box and wearing an orange jumpsuit.

“Me, I want to work under the holy Qur’an.”

Jaser, a 35-year-old Palestinian resident of Toronto, is represented by John Norris, who has denied the allegations against his client. Norris asked for a publication ban to be put on Tuesday’s hearing after Esseghaier made his “private life” comment and Superior Court Judge Bruce Durno said, “You mean the videotape?”

Norris said that if the information that is in the sealing order was discussed in open court, a hearing about whether to lift the sealing order would be a “wasted effort.”

Reporters and a few members of the public, including Jaser’s family members, had to leave the courtroom while a brief in-camera hearing was held so Durno could ensure Esseghaier wouldn’t refer to any of the sealed information.

Instead of ordering a publication ban on the hearing, Durno asked the lawyers and Esseghaier to refer obliquely to the contentious materials. But the lawyers’ submissions did indicate that some of the information the Crown wants to keep secret are identities of witnesses and wiretap information.

Media lawyer Peter Jacobsen argued that the public should know what evidence police had to arrest Jaser and Esseghaier.